40th Chess Olympiad
40th Chess Olympiad | |
---|---|
Logo of the 40th Chess Olympiad | |
Dates run | 27 August – 10 September 2012 |
Competitors | 1,407 |
Teams | 157 (Open) 127 (Women) |
Nations | 152 (Open) 122 (Women) |
Venue | Istanbul Expo Center
|
Location | Yeşilköy, Istanbul, Turkey |
Champions | |
Team | |
Open | Armenia Russia Ukraine |
Women | Russia China Ukraine |
Individual | |
Open | |
Women | Nadezhda Kosintseva |
Previous | ←Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 |
Next | Tromsø 2014→ |
The 40th
More than 1,700 players and team captains participated, including 157 teams in the open and 127 teams in the women's section.
Background
Istanbul's hosting the 34th Chess Olympiad in 2000 sparked a "Chess boom" in the country. Turkey has since hosted more than 100 international chess tournaments, including European Championships, World Youth Championships, and Youth Chess Olympiads. Membership in the Turkish Chess Federation has risen from 3,000 to about 250,000 in only eight years. Ali Nihat Yazıcı, President of the Turkish Chess Federation, is credited with triggering most of the activities towards this intensive chess development in the country.[6] He was later elected a vice-president of FIDE.
Istanbul won the right to host the 40th Chess Olympiad in November 2008, during the 78th Congress of FIDE at the 38th Chess Olympiad in Dresden.[2] Istanbul's bid was approved by a vote of 95–40 over Budva.
The event
Competition format
The tournament was played in a Swiss system format. The time control for all games was 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, after which an additional 30 minutes were granted and increment of 30 seconds per move was applied. Players were permitted to offer a draw at any time. A total of 11 rounds were played, with all teams playing in every round.[7]
In each round, four players from each team faced four players from another team; teams were permitted one reserve player who could be substituted between rounds. The four games were played simultaneously on four boards,
Open event
The open section of the tournament was contested by 157 teams representing 152 nations. Turkey, as host nation, had three teams, whilst the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA), the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA), and the International Committee of Silent Chess (ICSC) each provided one team.[8][9]
# | Country | Players | Average rating |
MP | dSB |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Armenia | Aronian, Movsesian, Akopian, Sargissian, Petrosian | 2724 | 19 | 397.0 |
2 | Russia | Kramnik, Grischuk, Karjakin, Tomashevsky, Jakovenko | 2769 | 19 | 388.5 |
3 | Ukraine | Moiseenko |
2730 | 18 | |
4 | China | Wang Hao, Wang Yue, Ding Liren, Bu Xiangzhi, Li Chao | 2694 | 17 | 390.5 |
5 | United States | Nakamura, Kamsky, Onischuk, Akobian, Robson | 2702 | 17 | 361.0 |
6 | Netherlands | Stellwagen |
2682 | 16 | 329.0 |
7 | Vietnam | Lê Quang Liêm, Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn, Nguyễn Văn Huy, Nguyễn Đức Hòa, Đào Thiên Hải | 2589 | 16 | 313.5 |
8 | Romania | Lupulescu, Pârligras, Marin, Vajda, Nevednichy | 2600 | 16 | 310.0 |
9 | Hungary | Leko, Almási, Polgar, Berkes, Balogh | 2708 | 15 | 368.0 |
10 | Azerbaijan | Radjabov, Safarli, Mamedyarov, Mamedov, Guseinov | 2693 | 15 | 344.0 |
All board prizes were given out according to performance ratings. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov on the third board had the best performance of all players in the tournament:
- Board 1: Levon Aronian 2849
- Board 2: David Navara 2869
- Board 3: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2880
- Board 4: Vladislav Tkachiev 2750
- Reserve: Dmitry Jakovenko 2783
Women's event
The women's event was contested by 127 teams representing 122 nations. Same as the open event, Turkey had three teams, whilst the International Braille Chess Association (IBCA), the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA), and the International Committee of Silent Chess (ICSC) each provided one team.[8][9]
Russia took the gold medal in the women's section to win their second consecutive title. China, led by the current World Chess Champion Hou Yifan took the second place, while Ukraine finished in third place overall. The medal-winning teams were also the only undefeated teams on the tournament. China and Russia entered the final round against Bulgaria and Kazakhstan respectively tied on the first place with China winning the tie-breaker. The Russian team scored an easy win 4–0 against the Kazakh team, while China faced some problems and edged Bulgaria by a minimum winning score of 2.5–1.5. Both teams were tied again in the final standings, but this time it was Russia winning the tie-breaker to secure their second consecutive title. Ukraine won their last match against Germany 3.5–0.5 and thus won the bronze medal.
# | Country | Players | Average rating |
MP | dSB |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Russia | T. Kosintseva, Gunina, N. Kosintseva, Kosteniuk, Pogonina | 2513 | 19 | 450.0 |
2 | China | Hou Yifan, Zhao Xue, Ju Wenjun, Huang Qian, Ding Yixin | 2531 | 19 | 416.0 |
3 | Ukraine | Yanovska |
2471 | 18 | |
4 | India | Dronavalli, Karavade, Sachdev, Gomes, Soumya | 2412 | 17 | |
5 | Romania | L'Ami, Sandu |
2377 | 16 | 313.5 |
6 | Armenia | Danielian, Mkrtchian, Galojan, Kursova, Hairapetian | 2404 | 16 | 313.0 |
7 | France | Skripchenko, Milliet, Maisuradze, Collas, Bollengier | 2350 | 15 | 347.5 |
8 | Georgia | 2390 | 15 | 344.0 | |
9 | Iran | Pourkashiyan, Khademalsharieh, Hejazipour, Hakimifard, Ghaderpour | 2267 | 15 | 339.0 |
10 | United States | Foisor, Goletiani, Abrahamyan |
2419 | 15 | 326.0 |
All board prizes were given out according to performance ratings. Nadezhda Kosintseva on third board had the best performance of all players in the tournament:
- Board 1: Hou Yifan 2645
- Board 2: Zhao Xue 2574
- Board 3: Nadezhda Kosintseva 2693
- Board 4: Huang Qian 2547
- Reserve: Natalia Pogonina 2487
Gaprindashvili Trophy
The Nona Gaprindashvili Trophy is awarded to the nation that has the highest total number of match points in the open and women's divisions combined. Where two or more teams are tied, they are ordered by the same tie breakers as in the two separate events.
The trophy, named after the former women's World Champion (1961–78), was created by FIDE in 1997.
# | Team | MP | dSB |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Russia | 38 | |
2 | China | 36 | 806.5 |
3 | Ukraine | 36 | 781.5 |
Controversies
On 24 November 2010, The New York Times published an article concerning the possibilities that the Turkish Chess Federation has paid the voters amount of $120,000 in order to win the bids to organize the Olympiad. In the financial report published on the official website of the Turkish Chess Federation there was a footnote, which translated into English points on the allocation of these costs for stand, souvenirs, lobbying activities, as well as accommodation, transportation and food for some of the FIDE delegates to vote for the city.[10] The official answer of the Turkish Chess Federation denied the claim and mentioned that the sum spent is not very big when bidding to host an Olympiad. It was also clarified in the response that the costs were allocated to pay for the Turkish delegates at the FIDE Congress in Dresden, and the expenses documented by invoices testify that no money was given to any of the FIDE delegates and none of the expenses were reimbursed.[10]
In June 2012, Ali Nihat Yazıcı, President of the Turkish Chess Federation, announced that no arbiters from Germany, England, France, Georgia, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United States would be accepted for the event because of the involvement of those countries in launching or supporting court cases against FIDE, causing financial problems and a loss of distributable income for worldwide chess development. A few days later, the English Chess Federation sent a protest letter to FIDE, which was later co-signed by the other federations who announced their support.[6]
Russian journalist Evgeny Surov was denied accreditation and was not even allowed to enter the venue as a spectator. This led to protests by the Russian Chess Federation[11] and more than 40 top players.[12]
References
- ^ Although commonly referred to as the men's division, this section is open to all male and female players.
- ^ a b Chess Olympiad 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey, Chessdom.com.
- ^ Team starting rank for the 40th World Chess Olympiad, Chessdom.com.
- ^ 40th World Chess Olympiad-Open FIDE Tournament Details
- ^ 40th World Chess Olympiad-Women FIDE Tournament Details
- ^ a b Formal protest issued against Turkish Chess Federation Archived 2012-08-18 at the Wayback Machine, Chessvibes.com, 11 June 2012.
- ^ a b "FIDE Handbook: Olympiad Pairing Rules". FIDE.
- ^ a b Olympiad preview Archived 2012-08-24 at the Wayback Machine, Chessvibes.com, 22 August 2012.
- ^ a b 2012 Istanbul Chess Olympiad preview, ChessBase, 21 August 2012.
- ^ a b Chess Olympiad 2012 sparkles discussion – NY Times article, Chessdom.com.
- ^ Russian Chess Federation supports Surov with open letter Archived 2012-11-21 at the Wayback Machine, Chessvibes.com, 30. August 2012
- ^ Top players sign open letter supporting Russian journalist Archived 2013-01-29 at the Wayback Machine, Chessvibes.com, 5. September 2012
External links
- 40th Chess Olympiad: Istanbul 2012 OlimpBase